The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-03-01
NATIONAL NOTES.
Happenings at the Capitol on
Monday.
STILL THE RETALIAT0RY BILL.
The Queen's DOminiOns-TheE n. =. &
A r. Il. Company-New Telegraph
COmpanV-Nominatio
News of the Nation

News of the Nation.
WASHINGTON, February 28.-CarToll
D. Wright, Commissioner of Labor, has
submitted to the Secretary of the In
terror his S. cond annual report, which
relates entirely to the subject of
CONVICT LABOR.
1t says that the prison population of
1864 1859 has a proportion of one in q
thousand to the population of the
United States. Whatever competition,
considering the. country at large,
comes from convict labor IN any form,
must come from this one convict in
one thousand population, not the pro-
portion of those engaged in mechanical
pursuits in the whole country, which Is
about one convict to every fifty per-
sons so employed. United States pris-
oners included in the above estimate
number 1240, and they are distributed
through the different States. The in
dustry employing the greatest number
is that of boots and shoes; the manu-
facture of clothing standing next, then
stone dressing, then farming, garden
ing, furniture, mining, lumber and car
peting sin the order named.
The total product of all penal
products of the industries of the coun-
try. The report relates that it is per-
| fectly evident from the information OBJ
tanned that competition arising from
the employment of conyicts, as far as
THE WHOLE COUNTRY
is concerned, would not of itself con-
stitute question worthy of discussion.
However, in certain localities, and in
certain industries, says the report, the
competition may be serious, and of such
proportions as to claim the most seri-
Gus attention of the legislature. The
commissioner concludes that the system
OF hand labor, ii introduced in prisons,
would reduce competition with free
labor to minimum.
The success of the river and harbor
appropriation bill has been assured by
complete
AGREEMENT OF THE CoNFEREEs
on the points of difference between the
two houses. The total appropriation
made by the bill, as agreed upon in
conference, is less than 10000 000. The
provision for the Hennepin Canal is re-
tanned in the bill.
THE RETALIATORY BILL.
The House conferees on the bill to
authorize the President to protect and
defend the rights Of American fishing
vessels (the fisheries retaliatory BILLY
have prepared q statement which will
be submitted to the House at the
earliest opportunity, probably late to-
night. The report begins as follows:
THE unanimity expressed in the
Senate and House repeatedly has given
the managers on the part of the House
every reason to hope that by mutual
concession an agreement would
reached in conference, which would be
result in giving such ample authority
to the President rs might be necessary
for a satisfactory settlement of the
pending question of American fisheries
on the Canadian coast. 1t l., there
fore, with the deepest regret and dis
appointment, that we are compelled to
report disagreement. The managers
on the part of the House entered
the conference with q determination
that no minor differences should stand
in the way of an agreement; proposed
in order to remove the question on the
part of the Senate conferees as TO the |
violation of the treaty OF 1871, to insert |
line 81 OF the amended bill after the |
word Newfoundland" except such |
goods, wares and merchandise as are |
- T,,s& 4 f.,fo
Article xxx of the treaty concluded |
between the United States and Great
Britain on the 9Th of May, 1871, and |
NAV also forbid the entrance of any
locomotives, cars, or other vehicle with |
any goods that may be contained |
therein, except such as are wholly |
loaded with and exclusively en-
gagged in the transportation of goods,
wares and merchandise entitled to
come into the United States under said
article xxx. This amendment was
not accepted, and it became evident
that no proposition that included cars
and rolling stock in operation of the
law would be acceptable to the Senate
CO aferees.
The unanimous vote of the House
authorizing the President 10 declare, in
his discretion, non-intercourse with
Canada by land as well as by sea, did
not, in the opinion of your. conferees
lave them at liberty to disregard that
important principle contained in the
House substitute for the Senate bill.
They therefore declined to recede IN
conference from the position taken by
the House on this point.
The report then argues that it would
not be consonant with the dignity OF
the United States to undertake to settle
treaty rights by applying non-inter-
course as to single article, because
such course mightfa short of the END
aimed at, and that the true way IS to
make the non-intercourse general.
eli the conferees say it is only the
desire to extend it to fish. the proper
method is by stariff enactment, not by
diplomacy: They hold the question to
be a national one, in which the United
States has to deal with Great Britain.
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